aFe Power at King of the Hammers 2018 Recap

This entry was posted on February 14, 2018 by Tyler Carrington.

aFe POWER, the leading manufacturer of high performance aftermarket automotive products, spent a week at King of the Hammers in Johnson Valley California to support Jordan Pellegrino racing for GenRight Off Road. This year, Jordan took on racing in the 4400 Unlimited Class as car number 98. Jordan started out riding dirt bikes as early as age 3, and honed his skills offroading over the years, eventually moving up to Rock Crawlers. He has since made the podium multiple times in the 4500 class, and this year it was time for him to move up to the 4400 Class in Ultra 4 Racing. aFe POWER provided GenRight with our world-class racing air filters to give them the performance advantage that a race this grueling demands. King of the Hammers is an unforgiving one-day race in the desert to see who can run the track in the fastest time. Hundreds of drivers compete, but only a few actually complete the course. A week before the big race day, we hopped in our new 2018 Jeep Wrangler JL V6 and headed for the desert about two hours away from our headquarters to be a part of the action.

The weather conditions in the desert were perfect on race day, something that all of the drivers were relieved to see as they lined up at 6:30am on Friday for the King of the Hammers main event. The start of the race was at 8am sharp, and this group of racers didn't hold back. Everyone on Friday's race gave full throttle off the line, and took the first few corners at speed. There were many flips, flat tires, and crushed metal throughout the race. Jordan Pellegrino had at least one flat tire, and a few crashes that broke some crucial equipment in his rock racer, but after around 12 and a half hours inside his vehicle, Jordan Pellegrino managed to finish in 26th place. Only 29 people finished that day.

Saturday, aFe POWER stayed for the GenRight jeep trail run, where over 250 off-road enthusiasts signed up to go out and view parts of the race course. Thanks again to everyone who signed up and received a free aFe POWER goodie bag! The weather on Saturday was not so forgiving as it was during the week, as high winds blew dust at us all throughout the day. Luckily, our 2018 Jeep Wrangler JL handled the trails perfectly. Our new Jeep didn't even have 1,000 miles on the odometer when we were taking it over rocks that were bigger than our tires, and it still performaned like you'd expect a Jeep Wrangler to.

Overall every day out there in Johnson Valley that week was a test for every vehicle's off-road capability. We noticed improved throttle response when crawling when compared to the stock Jeep JL, and our RaceRunner shocks proved themselves more than capable of picking up speed in the dirt. For others though, air filters were working overtime, stock exhausts would get crushed, and stock suspension systems revealed their true capability. Lucky for those out there with aFe POWER on their ride, they could focus more on the trail knowing their ride is breathing easy.